Part 13

13
[3:44 AM. Hall of Champions, Indigo Plateau. The next morning.]
The doors opened for Santiago without him needing to move.
	The man stepped into the massive shell white amphitheatre, his sandals rabbits’ feet on new snow. He removed the top of his robe and it hung at his waist, where his sword was tied to the red sash. The room stank of death. He tightened his grip on his sword. Hector sat in the highest chair, lazily drowsing off, head rested uncaringly on his hand. He opened an eye, then closed it as if he was disappointed by what he saw.
	“Where are the others?” he asked.
	“They will not be joining us, I’m afraid.”
	“Unfortunate. I had anticipated on taking out you along with the others. No I suppose I’ll have to find them myself. What a bother.
	“While the Champion still stands, none shall sit on his throne but him. I am here to remove you from the premises, alive if possible, so that you may face trial for your crimes here.”
	“You may find that harder than you imagine, swordsman. I will not so easily be moved.” He righted himself in the chair without moving his body.”
	“The murder of Mistress Sabrina is an unforgiveable crime. I will ask you once more to step from the throne.”
	“You have inherited much from your master, your stalwart determination, you will of stone. I will enjoy cracking the geode of your mind.”
	“By order of the Pokemon League, and the power granted to me by Octavius, Champion of the League, I condemn you and your cohorts wherever they may be, as enemies of the continued stability and peace of Tohjo.”
	“Spare me the formalities, swordsman, I have heard this speech several times already in your head. I know that you have a tinge of fear in your heart after learning I had killed Sabrina. I know you worry about your Master as he lies broken. I know you will lead with Kabutops and attempt to slash at me in tandem, hoping that Kabutops’s double-team will be enough to counter my telepathy. I know that you received that Kabutops as a Kabuto from Octavius when you visited Pewter city when you were only fifteen years old. I know that you have prepared for the event that I could read your plan, so you attempted to hide the fact that you had released your Samurott into the fountain before you entered by repeating your speech over in your head. I know that your Gyrados has mastered the Hyper Beam and you attempt to use it as a last resort in the off chance that I was able to discern your first ruse. You intend to bring the hall around my ears, and while I am distracted by the falling roof, you plan to eviscerate me with that blade of yours.”
	Santiago stared blankly.
	“Oh yes, swordsman,” Hector chuckled. “I know a great many things about you.”
	There was no other plan of attack, no Plan B. He had already calculated his battle plan; it was the only viable option against someone who could read minds, but if Hector had already adjusted for his strategy, he would have to surprise him.
	“Samurott! Now!”
	A tidal wave of water poured into the chamber. The wave crashed into the hall and struck the thrones with the force of a broken damn. The samurai surfed in, raging as it moved to strike the telepath, it drew it’s blades, but Hector vanished, reappearing hovering in the air above the water. The Samurott’s blades cut cleanly through the back of the Champion’s throne. The marble slab slid into the water like a depth charge.
	Santiago ran over the water as if it were a meadow, each step of his sandal like a skipping stone. Using a throne as a focus, he jumped into the air, sword drawn. There was no anger in his eyes, no fury—just a serene calm that radiated outwards. Hector studied him for a microsecond then repositioned himself behind the swordsman. The Samurott emerged from the water and stuck the psychic, cleaving him two. The image of Hector disappeared and  two halves of a small plushie fell into the water. From somewhere in the hall, Hector laughed.
	Santiago dove underwater, even in the muffled silence of the water, he could hear Hector’s laughter. Slowly he resurfaced, standing lightly on the surface. With a wave of his hand, the marble doors shut and the torrent of water halted. Samurott’s head bobbed from below.
	“Show yourself,” he said. “Only a coward refuses to face his opponent.”
	“A coward, you say?” a woman’s voice cooed soflty. Santiago gripped his sword. The spectral image of Sabrina flittered down and hovered just above the water line. She looked much younger, her dark green hair catching the light reflected from the water and white walls. Santiago had never seen her like this. She looked so powerful, not wise as he had known her.
	“We’ll see who the coward is when you beg me to kill you,” she whispered into his ear, appearing behind him. Samurott launched itself into the apparition which laughed as it phased through, crashing back into the water. “Good try. I thought you were supposed to be a good learner. Octavius talks about you all the time.”
	“Is this a battle of wits, or a pokemon battle?”
	“It can be whatever you like.” Sabrina placed her hand onto his chest. The chill of etherium racked his body as the hand slipped through. “Such a strong heart. Octavius has taught you well. Shame you couldn’t save him.” He felt her take his heart in her cold hands and lightly massage it. “You do so much for him, but he never appreciates you. I can’t imagine what that must feel like.”
	It took all of his might to keep a steady gaze as he locked eyes with Sabrina.
	“Good thing I don’t have to.” Sabrina took her free hand and slipped it inside his head. His head screamed in agony and he could feel the heat of a fever hit him like a train. “Ah, there it is! You resent him for that. An understandable emotion. Be sure to tell him if he ever wakes up. Why did you leave his side, again?”
	“So I could bring you to justice. There was nothing I could do there. I was needed here.”
	“Needed…that’s such a strong word. Are you sure you weren’t just trying to play the hero now that the second fiddle gets a solo?”
	He remained silent.
	“We’ll I’m the conductor of this symphony, and your solo’s been cut.”
	She gripped his heart and warning klaxons went off all over his body. He flinched as he could feel the paralyzing grip slowly choke his heart.
	It’s would be so easy for me to just snuff the life out of you, you know that?
	Give me one reason
	Just one, and I’ll let go.
	“I can hear you.”
	Before Sabrina could react, he plunged his sword into his abdomen. He grunted as the blade cut through, blood dripping from the edge into the water. The voice in his head screamed and disappeared. Hector appeared in the Champion’s throne once more; this time, however, he clutched a clean wound to the stomach. Santiago ripped the sword like a weed from his gut and brandished it, sending his own blood flying.
	“Try not to blink.”
	A monstrous Kabutops emerged from the water behind the throne and gripped the telepath, the blades digging into his skin as he struggled. Santiago cleaned his blade in the water and pointed it at Hector.
	“By order of the Pokemon League, and the power granted to me by Octavius, Champion of the League, I condemn you and your cohorts wherever they may be, as enemies of the continued stability and peace of Tohjo.”
	He rushed towards the man but froze an inch from plunging his sword and ending the man’s life. He forced with all his might the hilt of the sword but it would not budge. Kabutops was similarly powerless.
	Hector laughed. “To think I would so easily be bested is a fool’s dream. I am leagues ahead of you; I have seen you, your past, your future, and I am disappointed. The Kabutops’s scythes began to uncurl from the throne. “Bad luck, swordsman, but it ends here.”
	Luck was never part of the equation
	Santiago could feel the psychic shock from where he stood. Hector grabbed at his head and screamed in pain. Feeling the pressure subside, he drove the sword though Hector’s heart. The telepath gave a surprised cough of blood, then died. Santiago lifted the body with his sword and let it drop into the water. A red cloud rose to the top. He looked up and caught the eyes of an old Alakazam. It nodded at the swordsman then disappeared.